It was 1879, and the Civil War had been over just nine years, a war that had devastated the Commonwealth of Virginia as perhaps no other state, for there, in the “Old Dominion” the largest number of battles (2,000 by some reckonings) were fought. Yet somehow, and for some reason, a woman named Marion Cabell Tyree decided to compose a positive, useful and now-classic book for the benefit of women. It was graced with this stirring title: Housekeeping in Old Virginia Containing Contributions from 250 of Virginia’s Noted Housewives Distinguished for Their Skill in the Culinary Art and Other Branches of Domestic Economy.